By now, you've hopefully gone into the world and started picking up any and all of the albums I've mentioned thus far, and you're putting together your mix CD. After all, we're just about a week away from Christmas. Stay strong, dear readers, and try to get your hands on the following tracks.
"A.M. 180" by Grandaddy from the album Under the Western Freeway
It hurts me to say that the debut album from Modesto, CA's Jason Lytle and crew is no longer in print, but if you try really hard, you can still find it places. This song merges pleasant electronic blips with lo-fi nerd punk and emotional lyrics touching on the joys of reuniting with a loved one you thought you had lost. This is perfect for the halfway mark of the album in that the track rocks, but also brings the mood back into the realm of pop, thereby making it possible to reinvent the flow, and open doors to endless possibilities.
"Suburban Home" by Descendents from the album Milo Goes To College
“I want to be stereotyped/I want to be classified.” So begins Descendents' classic tribute to the conformity of suburbia. A poppy yet poignant peek into the angst of living in the shadow of one's parents in a cookie-cutter neighborhood, this song will not only give your giftee something to be pumped about, but will add to their punk-rock education. Descendents originated nerdcore, and this album's namesake comes from singer Milo Aukerman attending The University of Wisconsin, Madison and achieving a Ph. D. in biochemistry. If you can think of anything cooler than a punk singer holding a Ph. D., I'll eat my hat.
"A New England" by Billy Bragg from the album Must I Paint You a Picture?:The Essential Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg has admitted to not only stealing the melody of this song from Thin Lizzy, but also to lifting the opening lyric “I was 21 years when I wrote this song/I'm 22 now but I won't be for long” from Simon & Garfunkel. I chose this song for two reasons: Firstly, it's an awesome tale of growing up looking for love, being underappreciated and finally moving on, and secondly for Bragg's ability to have entire songs with no bass and drums that can still captivate. I chose the version from
The Essential Billy Bragg
over the original version for the simple fact that Bragg wrote two extra verses that do not appear in the original version found on
Life's a Riot with Spy Vs Spy.
"Big Friday" by Bonnie "Prince" Billy from the album The Letting Go
Before Iron & Wine did his thing, Bonnie “Prince” Billy was rocking the whisper-quiet indie-folk scene. Will Oldham seemingly wrote this track as a thank you to a loved one standing beside him through thick and thin. Remembering that life is punctuated with hardships and disasters is tough, but with someone to help you through, the big things seem to matter less, and we'd all do well to keep that in mind. The song follows the Billy Bragg track perfectly as we have subtly brought the mix back into mellow territory. It also works well to teach people that folk was cool long before the girl-pants set claimed it as theirs.
"Bad Sects" by Cursive from the album Happy Hollow
Still mellow, but reentering the realm of full-band action, Cursive's tale of child molestation within the church is both dramatic and heart-wrenching. Told through the narrative of a small-town priest lamenting a night of weakness, the song reveals this ongoing problem in a frank and unflinching manner. Disturbing in its honesty, “Bad Sects” is not only socially relevant, the music behind the lyrics is interesting and dark-the perfect accompaniment given the topic. Cursive is signed with Omaha's Saddle Creek Records, often revered as one of indie-rock's greatest labels. While the band's previous albums have been more popular,
Happy Hollow
remains my favorite, and should be shared with anyone you can find.
"No Love" by The Get Up Kids from the album Four Minute Mile
Before emo was a bad word, there was The Get Up Kids. Formed in Lawrence, Kansas in 1995, the band's debut album
Four Minute Mile
is rumored to have been written in response to singer Matt Pryor's girlfriend of ten years cheating on him. Dealing in raw emotion, “No Love” lets Pryor's ex know, “I don't want you to love me anymore.” Describing the hypothetical situation of “what if?”, the song will tug at your giftee's heart strings while teaching that emo didn't always suck huge, and there was a reason that it exploded. The Get Up Kids split in 2005, but have sporadically played reunion shows over the last 2 years. Any album in the group's catalogue is worth picking up, but it's always good to know how a band got started.
